LETTER: Goal should be making abortion unnecessary

Robert Watson’s letter on Thursday was a long-winded way of saying he would like to see the end of abortions. I am, to no surprise, a pro-choice Democrat. I and every pro-choice person would not like to see abortion declared illegal, but to find that it is no longer a necessity for any woman. Ending abortion by making it illegal is not important. Making abortion unnecessary is important.

We need to lift the poorest among us out of poverty so they can afford to have children, thus making abortion unnecessary for such people.

We need to make abortion unnecessary because a woman fears placing a baby in the foster care system when she has no one she trusts to care for the child.

We need to find a way to get every child that is caught in the foster care system — those kids waiting to be adopted — adopted, and put into good homes where they can flourish.

We need to stop the cry of no abortions at all and admit that the physical life of a fetus is not more important than the mental health of a woman forced to carry a fetus to term in the case of rape or incest. And we definitely must let the doctor make the decision on whether or not the mother's life is at risk and whether she is able to carry the fetus to term.

We must stop saying that contraception is a sin and make it easily available. And that includes the so-called morning-after pill.